Alligator Boots
by Ellenore Carter
Summary: Anyone ever wonder where when and why alligator clothing was invented? well here's one scientifically accepted theory...  *New chapter on the invention of pencil eyebrows!
1. Alligator boots

Spider

I bustled around the kitchen preparing things for opening, chopping vegetables and pulling pies from the oven. Until Toby burst through the door gasping for air. I must have jumped three feet in the air, I was so startled. I dropped the bowl full of gravy onto the floor. It smashed into pieces and covered me in sticky goo that smelled like turkey.

"Mrs. Lovett! Help, we need your help!" He shouted directly into my ear.

"Ok, ok, wot in bloody heaven do ya want boy? I'm coming as quickly as I bloody well can! Stop pulling on me!" I yelled back as he dragged me down the stairs to the bake house. Sweeney stood, his eyes wide and his hair was almost as wild as mine, at the bottom waiting for us. I looked at their faces and grew frustrated, nobody was planning on telling me what was going on.

"Wot's 'appenin'? Why's everyone so worked up? If you are making me open late for nothing I swear I'll-" Mr. Todd's hand came over my mouth.

"Sh, it'll hear you!" he hissed at me. I batted his arm away.

"WHAT? What will hear me? Tell me Todd!" I shouted at him. Toby looked at me like he was shocked but I ignored the just sideways glance. Sweeney looked around nervously.

"A…spider," he whispered. I laughed.

"A bloody spider? That's what this about?" I rolled my eyes and yanked the door open.

"Mrs. Lovett! Stop!" Sweeney grabbed my arm and pulled me back. I whirled around and looked at him.

"Mr. T? What the hell is wrong with you? It's a spider! Since when are you afraid of anything? Here, I've got big boots on, I'll go squish the little devil." I pulled away from the two and walked into the foul smelling bake house. I peered around, no matter why I was here it always made me uneasy. Finally I spotted a big ugly spider in the corner. I gasped, not expecting it to be so big, but strode towards it masking any fear. Once I was close enough I stomped as hard as I could on the ugly arachnid. Then I looked up at Sweeney and Toby.

"See, s'not that scary-" suddenly the small amount of color they had drained from their faces. The two were looking at something behind me. Toby's voice came quietly floating over to me.

"Don't move and don't look behind you," he whispered. My eyes darted back and forth but I didn't dare breathe. Sweeney tensed and pulled the razor from his pocket. There was a dripping sound behind me. What was it? The drool of a beast? The thought of what monstrous thing was right there breathing on my neck made my heart race and I closed my eyes. It was much like the feeling whenever Sweeney touched me. Simply brushed my hand with his accidentally.

"Ok Mrs. Lovett, stay calm, just breathe slowly. I'll get it, don't worry. You know, it's not really all that big," he stepped towards me. I was hysterical at this point, tears were streaming down my face.

"Please, Sweeney, help me. I really hate bugs," I gasped as something brushed my leg. Sweeney shook his head.

"Bugs are the least of your worries at the moment Mrs. Lovett," he replied. My eyes snapped open. What was lurking in the dark? Finally he reached me, his razor in hand. I wrapped myself around him and cried into his chest.

"What is it Mr. T? I'm afraid," Sweeney hugged me for a moment then he violently shoved me away slicing the air with his knife. I sat up to see him staring and something red on the ground. It was still moving, my eyes widened as I realized what it was. The thing was some sort of reptile and it screamed and scraped along the ground. I closed my eyes as the blood drenched Sweeney knelt next to the thing and prepared to kill it. The noise stopped.

"Mrs. Lovett! Are you alright? Sorry about that love, didn't mean to throw you like that, I jus' had to kill that thing. It's dead now no worries," He whispered and pulled me into his lap. I sobbed, utterly traumatized.

"What was it Mr. Todd?" Toby asked. Sweeney thought for a moment.

"It looks like an alligator, or something. Can't say I know what it is Toby," he said. I stood, took a deep breath, and walked over to the thing. I had to be strong and at least glance at it. When I saw it I froze. Sweeney came from behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder. But I didn't lock up because I was scared, I was shocked at what beautiful skin the thing had.

"Mr. Todd, do you think I could make boots out of it?" I asked quietly. He was silent for a moment, until grasping my shoulders and turning me to face him.

"Are you feeling alright Nellie?" he asked. I bent down to pick the thing up by it's long pointed tail. I gestured to the bloody scales.

"Isn't this pattern pretty, I can just see myself wearing it," I replied and grinned. Sweeney nodded.

"How about I make you a pair? Would you like that Mrs. Lovett?" I grinned back.

"Oh yes Sweeney, I would love that very much."

**A.N.**

**And that is how alligator boots were invented, by our beloved Mrs. Lovett, the fashion visionary.**


	2. Pencil eyebrows

The invention of pencil eyebrows

I pulled a fresh batch of pies from the oven. As I turned to my next customer I muffled my gagging. Who was in this pie? What if I had known them? Now I heartlessly served them up with little dignity. The clueless man in front of me ordered three pies, one for his wife and son. I grinned widely, greeting him as an old friend while I pulled three pies off the cooling rack and put them on plates. The man thanked me and gave me the money.

The stairs creaked as Sweeney stepped carefully down them and hurried over to me.

"Mrs. Lovett, I do believe we are having an issue," he whispered so that only I could hear. I looked up at him.

"Wot's the degree of said issue Mr. Todd?" I whispered in an equally secretive manner. I tried to stay calm but he was just inches away from me. He had no idea how his presence made my stomach flutter.

"Fairly critical," he replied. I nodded subtly to him.

"Toby!" I called. After a moment he shouted back.

"What mum?"

"I've got to pop in upstairs for awhile, be back in a bit ok love?" I told him. Toby was now in sight so he nodded. I followed Sweeney up to his shop. I saw Lucy standing in the corner looking rather frightened. I glanced at Sweeney nervously. Why was Lucy here, and more importantly, did he know it was indeed Lucy?

"Do you know who this is Mrs. Lovett?" he asked. I shivered.

"No Mr. T, I mean, it's the beggar woman but other than that, I have no idea of her identity," I was a bloody awful liar. Sweeney's hand came at my throat. He pushed me against the wall, I gasped and coughed, my air supply dwindling.

"Wrong answer Mrs. Lovett, it's Lucy, it's my wife. You lied to me," the man hissed into my ear. Though he was trying to kill me, I found it extremely hard not to lean forward and kiss his thin pale lips. Why was I in love with the one man who hated me most? I shook and trembled from oxygen deprivation.

"Actually, Mr. T, I never said she was dead. I only said she poisoned herself, and she did," the barber didn't buy my weak defense, nor did I. He laughed bitterly and dragged me over to the door.

"Don't act scared or try to get help or you will rue the day we met," he barked at me. I willingly walked in front of him as we descended the stairs. Smiling as if nothing was wrong, after all, Sweeney had his arm around my waist. For the moment I was alive, more than alive. He led me down to the bake house. I walked closely to him. If I were to die, my last memory would be him. The last word from my lips, the last thought to drift through my mind would be Sweeney, Sweeney Todd the demon barber of fleet street. We stood in the dark and I turned to face him, my smile gone. Sweeney was grinning though and it frightened me.

"So, um, I suppose you're going to kill me?" I asked calmly. Mr. Todd's eyebrows rose.

"Does it not scare you?" he asked. I shrugged.

"Actually love, the only thing you could ever do to me that would hurt is rejection, and you've already done that so, I don't know, if you can think of anything any more cruel and unfair than what I've already been through you're welcome to try it out. If you haven't already seen this, I'd do anything for you, so test out any torture on me, I really don't care," I shrugged not daring to meet his gaze. Suddenly his razor flashed past my face. But unlike what I expected blood wasn't pouring from my neck.

"There, take it as a warning," he said and left me. I stood in the dark, confused and alone and cold. Until Lucy's body fell from the ceiling when I promptly decided it was time to leave the awful place. When finally I gathered enough courage to go upstairs I found everything as it was when I left. Toby looked at me funny so I went to find a mirror. Something must be wrong with my face I thought. When I found one I shrieked. Where the hell were my eyebrows? He had cut my eyebrows off? Why on earth would he do that? I felt the stubble where hair was supposed to be. I looked like a lunatic, an ugly lunatic, with no eyebrows. The brims of my eyes began to fill with tears. I looked terrible. But then I thought of something. I could make it look just a bit better.

Using my eyeliner I carefully drew thin black lines where my eyebrows were suppose to be. I was shocked to find it looked very much better. Almost better than my regular eyebrows. What a pleasant surprise, and on top of that, Lucy was gone and Sweeney hadn't killed me. I always had thought that would be the way I would die, at the hand of my beloved with my life blood oozing from a deep gash in my neck. Or some other terrible murder.

I guess in the end it all works out, unless you're an innocent civilian living on fleet street London.

**A.N. So, another very practical invention by Mrs. Lovett : ) **


End file.
